Like many others, I do not like subscriptions. However, I am renewing my Drafts Pro subscription even though I use none of the Pro features. I am doing this because I believe the developer deserves our support. He offers a wealth of features in the free app when he could be far more restrictive. I feel I should reciprocate his generosity. Some developers deserve our support even if we do not need all that they offer behind their subscription paywall.
So, I am renewing Drafts Pro. Perhaps there is a deserving, generous developer that you too can support, even if you do not need the subscription-based features.
I’ve used Drafts since 2012. I’m not much of an app purchaser/subscriber, tending to stick with a very few tried and tested, opposed to new and shiny. However, I never have any qualms over subscribing with Drafts. Greg’s consistent and persistent enhancements to his app have made it into an absolute gem for automation and scripting.
As a heavy Shortcuts user, the ability to use a Personal Automation that can run Drafts’ actions in the background opens up no end of possibilities. His work on Drafts is just a wonderful example of where craft and careful iteration can take a product when done well.
I use Drafts Pro less now than in the past but I still subscribe because Greg has always kindly answered every question I have ever sent him when I was infatuated with url schemes. I do use Simple Scan all of the time.
I do this for Unread the rss reader. It is amazing and the free version has everything that I need and I don’t use the pro features but I subscribe to it.
So… when you say you “don’t like subscriptions” perhaps you really meant most subscriptions aren’t valuable to you?
I wish everyone would think harder about this before declaring “subscriptions are bad”. Because for as long as any of us can remember, we could also have said “prices are bad” because we didn’t think product Y was worth $Z. We could even have said this about whole classes of products. Yet the presence of a price was not the problem.
It’s hard being a developer these days with such good first party app from Apple and also tons of open source, free apps. I have moved my note management back into Apple Notes but I am always inspired and respected the work of Greg. I do wish he has some tiered-based subscriptions. Like many, I don’t use most of the other features but I do want the Workspace and Themes. I don’t see myself paying the current price for the 2 features.
I just subscribed again. I usually will do a month every once in a while when I want to mess with my workflows. They’re having a sale right now on the website for $10 for the first year.
What premium features are you Pro users taking advantage of?
I do see value in subscriptions for both the developer and the user. I subscribe to several apps and services, albeit begrudgingly. Nevertheless, I prefer to own my apps, my cars, my home, rather than rent them. To the extent I can stretch a purchase over several years, I save money that I can use for charitable or other less noble purposes. I do not begrudge the developers the financial reward for hard work, nor should they begrudge me for wanting to save money.
As ever with me, I’m taking issue with the language, not the concept. You literally said “I don’t like subscriptions”. Based on everything else you have written, that’s not a true statement.
You prefer one-time purchase.
I’m trying to get people to stop and think about what actually matters to them. Almost always if I question it, as I have here, subscriptions are fine under certain circumstances.
There are so many different shapes of subscriptions and some are barely distinguishable from old school “pay once, then pay to upgrade” while others are actually far more beneficial to the user.
Buying often does not mean owning the software, but (only) owning a license to use it…
I understand that. It is a technicality. By “own” I meant not paying a subscription to continue using the app. If you stop paying, you can no longer use Microsoft Office, Ulysses, and many other applications. This is true of many services such as internet access, streaming services, and utilities. To the extent possible in the modern world, however, I want to own what I use. This is why I never lease vehicles. Leasing is, in most instances, a poor financial decision for the person leasing. If you purchase a vehicle and keep it for a long period of time, you retain the residual value.
The point is that when I am able to make a one-time purchase of an app and stretch its use over many years instead of making monthly or annual rental payments, I reach a breakeven point. Any time after that, I save money. Many factors affect this equation. An app may cease to function without an upgrade, for example. In my experience, however, one can stretch the use of apps over an extended period and save money. On an individual basis, this usually does not amount to much. The cumulative effect, however, is much larger if one uses a large number of apps and utilities.
I think the point of my post is being missed. My post was intended as a compliment to the generosity of the developer who provided a powerful app for free. Though I do not need the features available behind the paywall, and notwithstanding my general aversion to renting my applications, I subscribed as a small token of appreciation. That was my point.
That is fair. I’m sure that over many posts I’ve used different language to describe my attitude toward subscriptions. My error.
Perhaps the best way to describe my attitude toward subscriptions is that I “tolerate” them when I have little choice: either pay the subscription or do not use the app. I do “dislike” subscriptions, and I do “prefer” not to pay them. I favor an initial purchase and then paying for upgrades if I deem the upgrade necessary for my work. When my only choice is to pay the subscription for what may be an “essential” app for my work, I tolerate paying it.
The way I look at it I’ve have been paying for “subscriptions” my entire adult life.
Cable TV was a subscription. So is YouTube Premium, Arqbackup, and Google Workspace. And I couldn’t use my Apple devices without AT&T cellular and Comcast Internet. Subscription software is just another service I can choose to use.
IMO, “subscriptions” are unavoidable. In the US there is a saying: “You never really own your house. Your property taxes are rent you pay the city”.
I’ve never heard that before (probably because I don’t live in the US)
Now we do own our house, local taxes are one of our largest monthly costs.
Local taxes in the UK pay for local services, refuse collection, road maintenance (although in the UK it doesn’t feel like it, the roads are terrible), schools, police, fire services, social services… like the other taxes I pay, I pay them gratefully because I’m lucky enough to be able to do so where others may not be able to.
But yeah, life’s a subscription whether you like it or not. even if you buy things outright, you’ll need to replace it eventually by buying a new one.
Certainly, we replace nearly everything, even body parts on occasion. But that is not the same. With a subscription or rental, you hold no equity and retain no residual value. With ownership, you do. I consider the ability to use an application after it is paid for as a form of equity. You continue receiving value from the application even after it is paid off.
In any case, I think the point of my original post is getting lost. I only wanted to compliment and encourage the developer by subscribing, and to suggest that others consider doing something similar from time to time.
Nevertheless, I prefer to own my apps, my cars, my home, rather than rent them. To the extent I can stretch a purchase over several years, I save money that I can use for charitable or other less noble purposes. I do not begrudge the developers the financial reward for hard work, nor should they begrudge me for wanting to save money. 